▪ I. dapple, n.
(ˈdæp(ə)l)
Also 6 dappell.
[Unless this is the first element in dapple-grey (q.v.), it is not known until late in the 16th c., being preceded somewhat by examples of the adj. of the same form, and followed by those of the vb. in the simple tenses; the (? ppl.) adj. dappled however appears two centuries earlier. The mutual relations of these and the derivation and etymological development of the whole group are, from the want of data, still uncertain. The primary meaning of dappled was ‘spotted, specked, blotched’, which might arise either from a vb. ‘to spot’ or a n. = ‘spot, blotch’. A possible connexion is the Icel. depill (found in 13th c.) ‘spot, dot’; according to Vigfusson ‘a dog with spots over the eyes is also called depill’. This is app. a dim. of dapi pool: cf. mod. Norw. dape, depel muddy pool, pond, dub; MLG. dope, dobbe. Thus dapple might perhaps originally mean a ‘splash’, and, hence, a small blotch or speck of colour.]
1. One of many roundish spots or small blotches of colouring by which a surface is diversified.
| 1580 Sidney Arcadia ii. 271 (R.) As many eyes upon his body, as my gray mare hath dapples. 1611 Cotgr., Place..a spot or dapple on a horse. 1868 Lowell Let. 4 Sept. (1894) I. 453, I should like to lie under a tree for a year, with no other industry than to watch the dapples of sunlight on the grass. 1916 D. H. Lawrence Amores 49 When the yellow dapples Of autumn tell the withered tale again. |
2. (Without pl.) Spotting, clouding; mottled marking of a surface; dappled condition, dappling.
| 1591 Horsey Trav. (Hakluyt Soc.) 220 A goodly fare white bull, all spotted over with black naturall dappell. 1648 Earl of Westm. Otia Sacra (1879) 88 The Crimson streaks belace the Damaskt West..And cast so fair a Dapple o'r the Skies. 1713 Lond. Gaz. No. 5176/4 A Grey Mare..a little Fleabitten..on the Dapple behind. 1820 J. Hodgson in J. Raine Mem. (1857) I. 291 The whole sky has a harsh and unnatural dapple. a 1889 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1918) 52 For earth..her dapple is at an end. |
3. An animal, as a horse or ass, with a mottled coat. [app. subst. use of dapple a.]
| a 1635 Corbet Poems (1807) 16 The king..rides upon his brave gray dapple. 1733 Fielding Quix. i. i, Thou art just such another squat bag of guts as thy Dapple. a 1800 Cowper Needless Alarm 115 Be it Dapple's bray, Or be it not, or be it whose it may. 1861 Times 8 Oct. 8/1 The pure-blooded dapple, shaking his long ears over that manger. |
▪ II. dapple, a.
(ˈdæp(ə)l)
Also 6 daple.
[See dapple n., and dappled. The simple adj. is known c 1550: its relation to the n. and vb. is uncertain. According to analogy, it might be the source of either or both of these; but its date would suggest that it may itself have been worn down from dappled, or short for dapple-grey.]
= dappled.
| 1551 T. Wilson Logike 79 All horses bee not of one colour, but..some baye, some daple. 1735 Somerville Chase iv. 249 With his Hand Stroke thy soft dapple Sides, as he each Day Visits thy Stall. 1841 Lane Arab. Nts. I. 46 There approached them a third sheykh, with a dapple mule. |
[Dapple cited by Imperial and Century Dicts. from Scott, is an error for dappled: see Guy M. xxv.]
Hence † ˈdappleness, dappled state.
| 1611 Cotgr., Pommelure, plumpenesse, roundnesse; also daplenesse. |
▪ III. dapple, v.
(ˈdæp(ə)l)
Also 7 daple, dappel.
[The (? ppl.) adj. dappled (q.v.) occurs from the end of the 14th c.; but the simple vb. is first known two centuries later, and might have been inferred from the ppl. adj., or formed directly on the n. or adj. of same form: see dapple n.]
1. trans. To mark or variegate with rounded spots or cloudy patches of different colour or shade.
| 1599 Shakes. Much Ado v. iii. 27 The gentle day..Dapples the drowsie east with spots of grey. c 1620 Fletcher & Mass. Trag. Barnavelt iv. i. They should have dapled ore yon bay with fome, Sir. a 1658 Cleveland Wks. (1687) 14 The trembling Leaves..Dappling the Walk with light and shade. 1697 Phil. Trans. XIX. 781 A Negro-Boy that is dappel'd in several Places of his Body with White Spots. 1791 Cowper Odyss. xx. 427, I see the walls and arches dappled thick With gore. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory I. 320 How to dapple a horse. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 79 An adjoining meadow, where the sheep are lying, dappling its sloping surface like the small clouds on the summer heaven. 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. i. (1873) 240 The flickering shadows of forest-leaves dapple the roof of the little porch. |
b. fig.
| 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 76 It is in fashion with you to..dapple your speeches, with new quodled words. 1682 N. O. Boileau's Lutrin. i. 41 Discord dappled o're with thousand Crimes. |
2. intr. To become dappled or speckled.
| 1678 Lond. Gaz. No. 1266/4 An iron gray Gelding, beginning to dapple. 1818 Byron Mazeppa xvi, Methought that mist of dawning gray Would never dapple into day. 1883 D. C. Murray Hearts I. vi. 138 The green flooring of the dell [began] to dapple with light and shadow. |
Hence ˈdappling vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1830 Wordsw. Russian Fugitive i. ii, In the dappling east Appeared unwelcome dawn. 1870 Ruskin Lect. Art vi. (1875) 172 The dappling of one wood glade with flowers and sunshine. 1883 G. Allen in Knowledge 3 Aug. 66/1 The..colour and dappling [of orchids]. |